FIG. 1A is a schematic block diagram of a traditional system for inventory, sales, and distribution of products. Such a traditional system is vertically integrated and highly hierarchical, with most entities filling only limited roles in the overall system. Product manufacturers 110 are located at the top of the hierarchy, and send products primarily to distributors 120 and sometimes also to product retailers 130 as requested. The distributors 120 represent a primary repository for product inventory in the system. Some product retailers 130 may obtain product inventory directly from product manufacturers 110, but most typically obtain product inventory from product distributors 120 as required to maintain in-store stock (i.e., a “local inventory”) in a physical store, and/or to ship to remotely-ordering (catalog, phone, online) retail product purchasers (remote inventory). Product retailers 130 are typically the primary interface between the system and a product purchaser 140 (typically a retail consumer). In some instances a product retailer 130 may arrange to have ordered products shipped directly from a product distributor 120 (i.e., from a “remote inventory”) to a product purchaser 140 (either with or without the purchaser being aware of this). This variation of the traditional system is known as consumer direct fulfillment (CDF; FIG. 1B). Product manufacturers 110 may sometimes also offer consumer direct fulfillment.
As mentioned above, the traditional system for inventory, sales, and distribution of products is highly “vertically” integrated. Products predominantly flow downward through the hierarchy, while revenue flows predominantly upward. For a group of entities offering products within a common product category (i.e., music, video, books, software, clothing, furniture, sporting goods, and so on), each entity in the hierarchy typically does not interact with other members of the same level (no “horizontal” or “lateral” integration of the system), and typically interacts with only one or a few members of the one or two next higher levels (little “diagonal” integration). Traditional notions of competition in commerce tend to limit an entity's willingness to interact “horizontally”. Each entity of the traditional system often plays only a single role (product manufacturer, product distributor, or product retailer) The systems of FIGS. 1A and 1B are somewhat static, and slow to respond to changing market conditions, sales trends, and/or product demand patterns. Each participating entity of the system (particularly the product retailers, especially individual local or regional retailers that are not part of a chain) has only limited opportunities for realizing improved economies of scale in its acquisition/inventory/sales/distribution of products, since its interactions with other entities in the system are typically limited.
The somewhat modified traditional systems shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D are typical of the music, entertainment, and/or publishing industries, and include content providers 105 (i.e., musicians, studios, authors, production companies, and so on). In the publishing industry, publishing houses are product manufacturers 110 and represent authors (the content providers 105 in this example). Book wholesalers may serve as product distributors 120, and retail bookstores (physical and/or online) are the product retailers 130. Books and other publications flow down through the hierarchy, while revenue flows upward. One participating entity may participate at more than one level of the hierarchical system (publisher/wholesaler, distributor/retailer, publisher/retailer, or even publisher/distributor/retailer), but there are few if any “horizontal” exchanges or interactions in this scenario. Products eventually reach individual stores, which may comprise physical stores visited by retail customers to purchase and/or order published products, or may receive remotely-placed orders from customers via catalog, phone, or online (via Internet and so forth). Published-product purchasers 140 may obtain purchased products directly from a product retailer 130 (fulfillment from local inventory; FIG. 1C) or by “drop shipment” from a product distributor 120 (fulfillment from remote inventory; CDF; FIG. 1D). Manufacturers 110, distributors 120, or even content providers 105 may act directly as product retailers and/or offer consumer direct fulfillment, particularly in an online sales environment.
In the music/entertainment industry, a more complex situation exists. Musicians (content providers 105) are often associated with record labels, which in turn may operate independently or be associated with one of the roughly five major distribution houses (which form an oligopoly) or one of several secondary or regional distributors. The actual product to be sold (DVD, CD, tape, other media, digital file, and so forth) may be manufactured by the musician(s), the label, the major distribution house or other distributor, or even contracted out. Any of these entities may therefore serve as a product manufacturer, and/or may also serve as a product distributor. The product distributors 120 (independent label, distribution house, other distributor, etc) in turn ship products to individual record stores, which fill the role of product retailers 130. The record stores may be physical stores visited by retail customers to purchase (from local inventory) and/or order music products, and/or may receive remotely-placed orders from customers via catalog, phone, or online (via Internet and so forth). The retail store may fulfill orders itself (orders placed locally at a physical store or remotely; fulfillment from local inventory; FIG. 1C), or may have the ordered music products “drop shipped” directly from a distributor to the retail purchaser (fulfillment from remote inventory; CDF; FIG. 1D). The music purchaser need not be aware of the participation of the distributor. Music products flow downward through the hierarchy and revenue flows upward, with few if any “horizontal” exchanges between entities within the same level of the hierarchy. Similarly complex hierarchical relationships exist for other areas of the entertainment industries among studios, production companies, distributors, retail outlets, and so forth.
The existence of a significant market for used, rare, so-called private label, and/or other non-standard music products is an additional variation that may be imposed on the systems depicted in FIGS. 1C and 1D (often referred-to as “non-catalog” products in the music industry). Many local/regional retailers (but often not larger chains) will purchase used music products from retail customers. The inventory of used products available for retail re-sale is generally restricted to being offered only to purchasers within the reach of the acquiring retailer, with little or no opportunity for wider availability. Conversely, there is little or no opportunity for a local/regional retailer to offer a wider selection of used products than its own local inventory. Some local/regional retailers may enter into agreements with local/regional musicians to produce music products on a local/regional level and generally offered for sale only from the local inventory of the local/regional retailer. Few opportunities exist for a retailer to offer such so-called private-label products of other retailers. Similar limitations are encountered when offering out-of-production, collectible, rare, or otherwise non-standard products.
It is therefore desirable to provide systems and methods for providing multiply-integrated product inventory, sales, and distribution. A “multiply-integrated system” is meant to include “vertical” (between participants in differing levels), “horizontal” (between participants within the same level), and “diagonal” (between a participant of a level and many participants in other levels) interactions between participants in the system, wherein each participant offers products for distribution and/or sale within a common product category or class (examples: a group of participating music/video suppliers; a group of participating book/magazine suppliers; a group of participating furniture suppliers; a group of participating software suppliers; a group of participating sporting goods suppliers; and so forth). It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods wherein product identification, product inventory, product pricing, order, and/or sales information for multiple participants in the system is gathered into system databases for enabling integration of the system. It is desirable to provide a multiply-integrated system for inventory, sales, and distribution of products wherein any participant in the system may act in multiple capacities within the system (i.e., as a product manufacturer, a product distributor, and/or a product retailer). It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods for enabling exchanges of products and/or revenues between any participants in the system, including “horizontal” exchanges. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems enabling participants in any level of the hierarchical system to accept orders from product purchasers. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods enabling participants in any level of the hierarchical system to provide consumer fulfillment (direct or indirect) for orders placed with participants in any hierarchical level, particularly retailer-to-retailer consumer fulfillment. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods enabling rapid adjustment of product inventory (local and/or remote inventory) and/or product pricing to changing market conditions, sales trends, and/or product demand patterns. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods enabling participants in the system, particularly product retailers, to realize improved economies of scale. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods to enable a participant in the system to pool inventories and/or orders of physical and online operations in real time to leverage improvements in efficiencies in the system. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods to enable multiple participants in the system to pool inventories and/or orders in real time to leverage improvements in efficiencies in the system. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods enabling real-time automated order fulfillment, pricing adjustments, inventory adjustments, and/or other adjustments to the distribution and/or flow of products and revenue to/from/within the system. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods enabling a participant in the system to selectively interact with other participants in the system. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods enabling a participant in the system to maintain independence and autonomy. It is desirable to provide multiply-integrated systems and methods enabling participants, particularly local/regional product retailers, to offer a wider array of non-standard products, and to offer their own non-standard products to a wider group of potential purchasers.